VAA Virginia Asphalt Spring/Summer 2021

VAASPHALT.ORG 19 THMACO EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS I-95 THMACO March 2021 I-95 THMACO March 2021 Near Rte. 631 Overpass investment, VDOT’s projections on long-term pavement condi- tion expects at these funding levels 18 percent of the interstate, high-volume primary system, and high-volume secondary system (i.e., 3,500 vehicles per day and higher) to be in poor or very poor condition (i.e., CCI less than 60). Likewise, 25 percent of the lower-volume primary system and 40 percent of the lower-volume secondary system to be in poor or very poor condition. This lack of funding continues to drive pavement managers to stretch the limited available dollars as far as possible to meet annual perfor- mance targets. This compounds the push-pull of treating pave- ments in good condition (as demonstrated by the success on I-95), where preventive maintenance treatments are effective with those in fair or poor condition that needs immediate attention. This drives decision-making towards delaying or even potentially avoiding pavement preservation on pavements in good to excel- lent condition. While one can argue that the opposite should be true, the reality is that many decision-makers will tend to spread the available funds as thin as possible to avoid the inevitable massive failure. Fortunately, this project and others show that VDOT is willing to pursue methods to appropriately spend the available funds in a prudent and effective manner. Tom Tate, District Materials Engineer with VDOT put it best when he said, “As one can see from our experience on I-95 in Greenville Co., THMACO is clearly a great pavement preservation tool that, when used appropriately, can prove to save money and avoid unnecessary and untimely maintenance activities.”